At the time of writing iTunes v12.9.5.7 was the latest version of iTunes.

iTunes is Apple official software for getting files too and from an iPhone, iPod or iPad. If rumours are right Apple will kill off iTunes software at the end of 2019. If Apple kills off the iTunes software I will update this guide in the future.

Disclaimer: I provide no warranty or support for this app, this is what happened to work for me.

Why write a guide on Backing up a mobile phone?

It’s not that simple an I get asked how to do this almost every week by someone.

No one thinks to backup up their photos until they fear their phone is lost or stolen.

I am about to publish a few posts on backing up (development machines, servers etc) with automated software and with free open source software so this post will be handy to link in what data you can back up in that post.

The last time I wrote an article on backups was in March 2016 and its not that great these days.

Golden rules of backing up.

Backup to Three different locations.

Two of the media need to be different.

One of the locations needs to be offsite

Test your backups (a backup is only good if you can restore). (from @Daniel15)

If the backup is encrypted make sure you have the decryption keys. (from @Daniel15)

Backing up the official way (with iTunes)

Apple prefers you just pay them to extend your free 5GB iCloud storage and not worry about backups and not to worry yourself with manual steps.

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My wife’s iPhone is always popping up messages saying that her iCloud storage is nearly full and she should upgrade the free space limit.

I know she has 100GB+ images and movies on her iPhone but iCloud has only backed up 4GB of photos and videos. Do not trust any backup statuses unless you can verify all files from a restore.

For the record I use an Android phone (Android backup guide coming soon).

iCloud is a good idea for automatic backup but I prefer to see my photos and backup them up myself. Also, Apple iCloud is not free from troubles. If you want Apple to handle backups then I do suggest you upgrade your iCloud storage from the free 5GB to a more sensible 200GB or more.

I don’t want ot pay Apple for more iCloud storage

I like you, I am tight too but I do pay Google $2.49 a month for 100GB backup storage on my Android phone. Google Drive (Google storage is a bit cheaper than Apple).

It is nice knowing your phone is auto backed up.

Install iTunes on Windows (10)

On your Windows 10 computer click the start button. If you don’t have a Microsoft Account go here and create one. Click the start button and type “itunes” (you don’t need to type into a box, just start typing when you click the start button)’.

Then click “iTunes, install app”

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If you are logged into your Windows 10 store with your Microsoft ID click “Get” (if not you will need to login to the store).

After you click ‘Get’, iTunes will start downloading.

When iTunes is downloaded Windows will install it. When it’s installed click ‘Launch’

You will need to agree to Apple’s terms of service. Click ‘Agree’

When iTunes opens click “Agree”

Now login to iTunes with your Apple ID (if you don’t have one create one here)’.

Click the ‘Account’ then ‘Sign In’ menu.

Login to iTunes with your Apple ID

Optional: If you have Two Factor Authorisation (2FA) of Apple ID’s turned on (you should) you will need to enter a 6 digit code.

Apple Two Factor Authorisation (2FA) will send one of your other devices a login code that you will need to use to login (confirm you own the account)

Now back to the article, iTunes should be ready to allow us to backup our iPhone.

Before I continue I will click ‘Edit‘ then ‘Preferences‘ menu to view where iTunes will download media too (different ot backup data), not important but I just want ot see if it is not pointed ot my smaller C drive before I backup my phone

I changed the location to a larger S:\Drive’

I was greeted with a message asking me to confirm that I wanted to sync the iPhone that I just plugged in called ‘EllieRose’, I clicked ‘Continue’

On the iPhone I also clicked ‘Trust’ to allow iTunes to talk to it.

I was then prompted to download a software update to the iPhone, It appears this phone is not running the latest software

I was prompted to sync the iPhone to the computer

A backup of the phone was underway.

If the screen above does not appear click the icon below to view the backup and restore iPhone menu.

The iPhone was backing up to this folder on my computer:

C:\Users\Simon Fearby\Apple\MobileSync\Backup

I was not prompted for a location to back up so and I will move this backup folder after the backup completes (so my C: drive does not fill up).

My drives.

C:\ = 500GB drive (faster SSD)

S:\ = 2,000GB Drive (slower Magnetic)

The iTunes iPhone backup is now complete (it took about 2 hours).

Now that the iPhone was backed up iTunes the Operating System update started to run.

Update verified.

During the update the iPhone was unavailable.

Done, the iPhone had updated it’s operating system in about 30 minutes.

Now this backup is available for me to restore in the future if I need it.

In the case of a restore, I just need to move the backup into the iTunes expected location.

Copy from..

S:\Backup\AlisonsiPhone\iTunes\31May2019

..to..

C:\Users\Simon Fearby\Apple\MobileSync\Backup

The Catch

The catch with back-ups made with iTunes is they are useless if you wanted to restore individual files (say to find a photograph or video). iTunes backups are usually tens of thousands of files with random folders and filenames

If you want to JUST backup photos and videos read on.

How to backup just photos and videos from your iPhone.

This part of the guide needs a paid version of the iOS App Photo Transfer App. In Australia, the app is free but to turn it into a full version needed to restore everything (via in-app purchase) it cost $10.99.

This app is well worth $10.99 AUD (it may be cheaper in other countries) to have it push photos an videos from your iPhone to a free companion Windows program (a Mac versions exist too).

I installed Adobe AIR and again reopened the PhotoTansferApp.exe and was prompted to allow access to the Windows Firewall.

I was on a home network so I enabled firewall access.

The Photo Transfer App prompted me to ‘Discover Devices‘ and to make sure the Transfer app is running on the iPhone.

Before I clicked ‘Discover Devices” on the Photo Transfer App on Windows I opened the Transfer app (mentioned above) on the iPhone.

On the iPhone I clicked ‘Send‘

The transfer app will ask for access to your photos, you will need to press OK.

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On the iPhone again I clicked ”Windows‘

The iOS Transfer app now said I should run the ‘Photo Transfer App‘ on Windows.

TIP: You can transfer over WiFi (if your iPhone and Windows device is on the same WiFi Network) or you can transfer over a USB cable.

Before I started the ‘Detect Device‘ or ‘transfer‘, I set the Backup path location to my S: drive by clicking settings in the bottom right and choosing a folder (as my C Drive is a bit small).

I noticed the port of 57777, I temporarily disabled the whole Windows Firewall just in case it prevents the photo backup.

In hindsight, it was not a good idea to disable the whole firewall, but because I was at home on a safe network I felt safe to do so. Next time I will not disable the firewall and see if this still works.

If you are on an internet cafe, school or university network do not disable your firewall.

Disclaimer

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